Judge Rex Burlison ruled the defense could call St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner as a witness. The prosecution responded by dropping the charge, which stemmed from Greitens' admitted extramarital affair with his hair stylist, but members of the prosecution team said they intend to refile the charge -- with a special prosecutor or another member of Gardner's team handling the case.

From a report at stltoday.com:

A spokeswoman for Gardner said the case would be refiled. Gardner left the courtroom just before 5 p.m. She did not answer questions.

Circuit Judge Rex Burlison's "unprecedented" order "places the Circuit Attorney in the impossible position of being a witness, subject to cross-examination within the offer of proof by her own subordinates," Gardner spokeswoman Susan Ryan said in a statement.

But St. Louis University law Professor John Ammann said Gardner did not have to dismiss the charge. Because she could not be a prosecutor and witness in the same case, she could have simply let other prosecutors take over, he said.

The move by Judge Burlison caught many legal analysts off guard, and Greitens hardly is out of the legal woods. From a report at cbsnews.com:

Nationally, it's "super, super rare" for a judge to allow a prosecutor to be called as a witness, said Hadar Aviram, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law.Some legal experts said prosecutors would have about a month to decide whether to file charges, because that's about how much time was left in the three-year statute of limitations when the original charge was filed. . . .

Greitens also remains charged with a second felony in St. Louis for allegedly disclosing a donor list from a St. Louis-based veterans' charity he founded for use in his political campaign. No trial date has been set for that case.

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Rex Burlison went far [recently] in dispelling any public doubts about his impartiality as he presides over Republican Gov. Eric Greitens’ felony invasion of privacy case. Doubts have surfaced because of Burlison’s links to the law firm defending Greitens.
Burlison dashed our concerns Monday by refusing a request by Greitens’ lawyers to allow a bench trial, which would have let Burlison judge the governor’s guilt or innocence without a jury trial. This high-profile case is being monitored across the state, if not the country, for its impact on the Republican Party in the November elections. . . .

Nevertheless, Burlison has troubling links with the influential Dowd Bennett law firm representing Greitens in the case, which stems from an extramarital affair in 2015. Burlison was a longtime aide to former Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat who appointed him to the bench. Nixon also appointed Burlison’s daughter to be a judge in St. Charles County, and Burlison’s wife to the judicial panel that recommends judges for the city of St. Louis.

Nixon now is a partner at Dowd Bennett. Three partners in the firm — Edward Dowd Jr., Jim Martin and James Bennett — are on Greitens’ six-member defense team. Burlison’s challenge moving forward will be to maintain strict impartiality regardless of the various political forces tugging at him.

Based on his ruling yesterday, Burlison appears to be playing favorites with the Dowd Bennett law firm -- and that benefits a governor who has scandals coming out of every orifice.

Thanks for sharing. Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott has claimed in the press that he is a long-time Eric Greitens supporter. The two probably deserve each other.

“The Governor has long been committed to public safety and our law enforcement officers. His latest budget is another confirmation of that support. I am very pleased to see that the Governor is serious about making sure our first responders have the equipment and training they need to do their jobs and keep Missourians safe,” said Jim Arnott, Vice President of the Missouri Sheriff’s Association."

Aboard the Eliza Battle the crew was getting some much needed rest when the ship's clock struck 8 bells. Meanwhile at Minda's barn Coach and Jimmy were waiting for the General. Coach, seeing the axe handle Big Luther used to prop the barn door shut, retrieved it for a souvenir. Upon hearing the General running across the pasture shouting "Heel Teddy Heel", Coach and Jimmy ran to the fence to hold the wire apart for the General. Meanwhile the crosseyed Thoroughbred trotted to Miss Willie's house to eat flowers. Minda, sleeping on the couch, heard a prowler on the porch and retrieved Miss Willie's Cap and Ball Revolver. Unbeknown to Minda, The Revolver had belonged to Miss Willie's Pappy. Most folks thought Miss Willie never married by choice but the truth was that when ever someone came courting Miss Willie, her Pappy would shoot them in the ass with Rock Salt, and Miss Willie's Pappy was the last person to load the Revolver. Minda tip-toed to the door and shouted,"Go Away! Or I will shoot." Minda's thoroughbred, hearing her voice, stepped onto the porch and nudged the door. BOOM! The thoroughbred fell off the porch,THUD, and Minda went back to bed. The Marines ran to the front porch and saw the thoroughbred laying there four hoofs to the heavens. Coach said that the thoroughbred ain't crossed eyed no more and Jimmy replied he must be dead because his eye muscles had relaxed. The General said they needed to bury that horse before Minda saw it. The Marines dig a hole and push the horse into it, but the hole was not big enough and the horse's head was still above ground when the sun began to brighten the sky. Jimmy pleaded for the General to help him dig a bigger hole. The General replied that there was not time and ran to Minda's house to retrieve a bust portrait of Rob. The General cut the outline of Rob's face from the portrait and put the horse's head thru the portrait. The Marines made a tactical withdrawal and were at the creek when the dazed thoroughbred woke up. Aboard the Eliza Battle the crew was awaken by a loud boom. The Crew was in the galley when the Captain informed them that the Explosion had come from Miss Willie's house.Bob Yancey reassured the Captain by telling him that the US Marine Corps had their first recruitment at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia and that the Eliza Battle's recruits were well qualified. Ms Chapelle inquired how Gov Greitens would be able to expose the DOJ/ Circuit Attorney corruption during Roger's eviction because the Circuit Attorney was trying to remove the Gov from office. The Captain replied that Greitens knows his true enemy and has become an ally of the Eliza Battle to fight the Holdouts of the corrupt Obama/ Clinton DOJ.